Stewarts, Washington, and General Braddock’s Defeat
(A historical story in 7 little parts)
By David L. Green
(Parts 2 & 3)
The Stewart Boys
Governor Dinwiddie ordered a road built to the Monongahela River to help defend the new fort. Again Mr. Washington was sent to lead the operation only to find the new fort was a newer fort called Duquesne and just full of Frenchmen. Horrors.
Washington, not to be outdone, went on to build a stockade fort called, appropriately, Fort Necessity near present-day Uniontown. On July 3, 1754 the French again laughed and swarmed this new fort. Washington was forced to surrender and again sent back to a very frustrated Gov. Dinwiddie.
Among the returning wounded was a young Captain Robert Stewart who served with and became one of Washington’s most prized officers.
In 1755 a new militia was raised and every able-bodied man was called to serve and defend the frontier from the “invading” French. Among those who served in the Virginia Militia were James Stewart (Roberts brother) and his son, James Stewart Jr.
(Part 3)
The Cowpasture
James Sr. was born in Perthshire, Scotland in 1719 and moved with his family to Ireland during the “Ulster Plantation” experiment (Ulster Plantation). While the family was there, James followed in his father’s footsteps and married an Irish girl – Mary Ann Lafferty – around 1738 in Dublin, Ireland.
Mary was a member of the landed gentry as she was receiving rent from properties in Ireland after her husband’s death (1913)*. Her brother married one of James’ sisters.
*note: (1913) is not the date of death but is a reference in the bibliography at the end.
The family came to the colonies in about 1740 and settled in the Shenandoah Valley by the Tygart Valley in a place called “the Cowpasture” not far from “the Calfpasture” and “the Bullpasture” …don’t ask. That’s a story for another day. Let’s just say that the Indians, who stole the herd of cattle, had a hard time keeping the herd together.(Cowpasture River)
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